Sasuke's Redemption
by Snowy Mountain
Summary: A lifetime of regrets prompts Sasuke to try and change his past and remake his future.
1. The Stranger With Eyes Like Mine

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing! Nada! Zero! Zip! I certainly don't own _Naruto_ either.

* * *

**Sasuke's Redemption**

**Chapter One: **_The Stranger With Eyes Like Mine_

* * *

Sarutobi sighed and clenched his pipe in his teeth and stared down at the small curled up body of the child. He looked at the medic nin, "His current status?" he demanded harshly.

"Comatose. We believe he suffered some sort of genjutsu attack on his mind that left him a near vegetative state."

Sarutobi was silent and shook his head. "Chances of recovery?" he asked in a softer tone of voice.

"I believe … it might be possible to repair his mind but for now, it might be best to just see if he can recover on his own. Once his condition stabilizes, his prognosis might improve."

"You can't do anything?"

"The severity of whatever attack was used is simply out of our capacity to heal. Perhaps if Tsunade were here, she might…" the medic nin began hopefully but Sarutobi gave a sharp and negative shake of his head. "No. She will not return for this," he said in a hard tone of voice. Then he looked sad.

"Well … we shall simply have to wait and see then," he said quietly. The medic nin nodded and they both left the room. Sarutobi glanced at the two ANBU stationed outside the room and gave them a nod. He doubted that they were really needed. If Itachi had wanted to kill Sasuke, he would have done so without bothering with a genjutsu assault.

As for this … this _incident_, there were so many other words he could call it but they lacked sufficient fire for the enormity of it all, he suspected that Danzo knew far more about it than he was letting on. And worst of all, his jaw tightened … he no longer fully trusted Koharu and Homura. They had urged him to force a confrontation with the Uchiha Clan but even Itachi's information had been … vague. At best. He wanted proof. Solid proof that they were deliberating committing treason before he went and formally accused them. Because if they were in fact loyal, such an accusation might drive them into treason.

But the Uchihas did not fully trust Itachi. They believed that his loyalty to Konoha overshadowed that of any loyalty he felt to the Clan itself. Ironically, Danzo, Koharu, and Homura believed Itachi might not be as loyal to Konoha as he was to his own Clan either.

Had the situation been any less grim, he might have had a few chuckles over the irony of it all. But not now.

_Had they gone behind his back?_

He could believe that Danzo was capable of that. But not Koharu and Homura. He wanted to believe that they wouldn't. That they couldn't. But deep down, he felt otherwise.

He felt a deep throbbing in his temple as he walked down the hospital corridor, deep in thought. Damn it, he shouldn't have to deal with this crap. He had been happily retired and playing the doting grandfather when he been forcibly pulled out of retirement with Minato's death. The panicky Council had immediately latched onto him as the obvious choice of Hokage. He would have refused but he knew that had he done so, then Danzo would be first in line presenting himself as a suitable interim replacement. _Interim! Hah! His old, spotted, and wrinkly ass!_ he bitterly thought to himself. And the look the old bastard had been giving the infant Naruto had given Sarutobi's chills.

He needed time to think about this. Time to calm down. Before he did anything. Like rip off Danzo's remaining arm and beat him to death with it. He grumbled to himself, _I'm too damn old for this shit._

* * *

It was several hours later and the two ANBU guards were bored stiff. They were getting paid to basically stand in one of the most heavily protected buildings in Konoha (short of the Hokage Tower of course!) to stand watch over a comatose kid. Chunins could do this sort of thing. Hell, Genins would probably be better. It was a severe waste of a couple of highly trained, extremely dangerous ANBU, in their personal opinions. But their opinions of course didn't matter.

A medic nin came striding down the corridor apparently studying a clipboard and was walking past the private room when he looked up at them. Their eyes locked and they suddenly stiffened. The medic nin smirked as the two ANBU were lost in the genjutsu he had cast on them. _Standards are really slipping,_ he thought to himself as he quietly entered the room and let his henge dissipate.

He was tall and slender. He had raven black hair that stuck up from the back of his head. His blood red eyes with triple comma marks spun around the central pupil lazily as he surveyed the room cautiously. _Good no additional guards, that makes it easier,_ he nodded to himself, as he walked up to the bed and looked down at the prone figure lying there. He wasn't going to complain but he was quite frankly appalled at how easily he evaded the security. _Maybe I should write a note and deliver it to the Hokage, fling it through his office window wrapped around a kunai and embed it in that hat he wears…_

He hated hospitals. He remembered waking up here as a child. The smell of the disinfectant, the sterility of the surroundings made him uncomfortable. It offended him actually. He quickly made a few seals and then reached down and pried open an eyelid and gazed into the eye of the young boy even as his eyes morphed into the Mangekyou Sharingan. Contact.

Sasuke suddenly jerked upright and screamed. He gasped, shaking as he blinked several times to focus on the man standing next to him. He jerked backwards. "Itachi!" he shrieked and tried to scramble away but his muscles were weak. "No. Not Itachi, Sasuke," the young man said softly. He leaned closer to the bed, allowing the boy to see his face.

Sasuke relaxed as he realized that it really wasn't his brother. But it did really look like his brother at first glance. "Uh … are you my cousin or something?" he asked bewildered.

"No," the Itachi-look-alike shook his head.

"But you are an Uchiha…" Sasuke said uncertainly. _His Sharingan looks funny…_ he thought to himself as the stranger's eyes shifted to a more normal looking one.

The man gave a short nod, confirming it with, "Yes, I am."

"Who are you?"

The older man smirked, "I'm you."

* * *

**A/N: **I've been stuck with my other stories for a while and when I was trying to work on "Girl Genius", an idea popped into my head about what if Sasuke was the one who travels back in time to try and alter the course of events. This is the result.


	2. Dark Secrets

**Sasuke's Redemption**

**Chapter Two: **_Dark Secrets_

_

* * *

_

_He screamed as he watched his brother slay his parents over and over again. He gasped and cried and pleaded as his big brother continue to do it over and over again. _

_Why?_

_Why did you do it? _

_Why?_

_He felt tears pouring down his cheeks as he stared at his brother's cold and emotionless face. "Itachi…" he whispered. _

_Why did you do this? _

_Father … father loved you. You were the brightest star of our family. I was never good enough, never as brilliant as you were, compared to you I was nothing. Less than nothing. I didn't even rate in his eyes. He barely noticed me. How could he with you around? Do you know how much he loved to brag about you and your accomplishments? About how you graduated the Academy at only 7 years old. How you mastered your Sharingan at 8. And then, how you made Chunin at 10. How you were recruited into the ANBU at such a young age. About the latest honors you had won. Your most recent successful missions. _

_I always felt lost in your shadow. Like nothing I could ever do would ever measure up. Like I was nothing. I suppose I should have hated you. But I didn't. I admired you. I worshipped you. _

_I loved you. _

_And I know everyone else did too. Father. Mother. Uncle. Auntie. And all of our cousins. Everyone in our Clan knew your name. Everyone thought you were the greatest Uchiha in generations. Maybe even the greatest Uchiha ever. I thought you were too. And the thing I was the proudest of was that you were my brother. _

_How could you do this? Why would you do this to your family? To the people who loved you? Why would you betray us? Why kill everyone? _

_Did you … did you hate us? Did you really hate us that much? _

_Why Itachi? _

_Why?_

_There was no answer. Only the flash as the sword swept down and the spray of blood. Again. And again. And again. _

_

* * *

_

Homura was glaring at Danzo. Technically speaking, Homura vastly outranked Danzo as he was a village official and a long time advisor to the Hokage and Danzo didn't even _have_ a position so to speak. He was not a part of any of the major familial Clans, nor did he possess a seat on the Civilian Council. He was not a member, official, advisor, or even possessed any sort of title in any of the executive or administrative bodies that actually ran Konoha.

Unofficially was a much different story.

_You have to remember that things are not always what they seemed,_ Homura remembered how his first Genin Cell Instructor had stressed that. At the time, he hadn't thought too much about it. It was only later when he realized just how wise his teacher had been.

Because things were never truly what they appeared to be. Particularly in a village full of ninja. The greatest skill of a ninja wasn't chakra control, incredible ninjutsus, or forbidden techniques. The greatest skill that a ninja possessed … was deception. And many forgot that truism at their own peril.

Danzo might very well be the most powerful individual in Konoha. He was deeply politically connected and it was rumored that he possessed many embarrassing and publicly damaging secrets and information on any number of prominent political figures. He had a finger in every committee, an ear in every office. He suggested, he whispered, he prodded, he nudged, he manipulated receptive individuals to get what he wanted.

And if that failed, he always had ROOT.

Once upon a time, ROOT had been an elite division of the ANBU. The elite of the elite. Created and run by Danzo. But Sarutobi had found his ruthless methods disgusting and had disbanded the organization.

Danzo officially complied.

Homura had wondered why Danzo had so meekly obeyed Sarutobi's order.

But things were not always what they seemed.

Basically ROOT had simply gone underground, pun unintended. Whereas before they had been a part of the ANBU, now they were separate, distinct, and answerable only to Danzo now. After all, sometimes the best secret organization is the one that doesn't really exist. At times, Homura and Koharu had found that aspect useful. Usually. But not now.

"What were you thinking?" Homura harshly demanded.

Danzo merely raised an eyebrow in what appeared to be genuine puzzlement, "What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about the Uchiha Massacre!" Homura barked, slamming a fist on the table. "That was _**not**_ what we agreed to! Fugaku yes! The other Uchiha Elders certainly! But what was the damn point of killing off almost all of them? Hell, most of them weren't even shinobi!"

Danzo looked at him coldly. "They were all traitors. Guilty of betraying Konoha. Even if they were not active participants, they certainly conspired by keeping it a secret," and leaned forward, "you do not coddle traitors," and then his voice dropped a few octaves and he hissed, _"you cut them out."_

"Even the children? Certainly they were not involved!" Koharu added in, her face tight and pinched.

Danzo's face twisted up in disgust as he turned to gaze at her. "And what? You expected them to simply smile and shrug at how we killed their parents, their grandparents, their aunts, their uncles, their cousins?" he asked mockingly. He shook his head sharply, "They were a potential threat make no mistake. One we had to eliminate. Better sooner than later," he said with a curt dismissive gesture.

_Potential,_ Homura thought to himself in disgust as he tightened his balled up fist. _If this was how Danzo treated someone who might become a threat, how would he act to someone who genuinely was one? _He shivered at that thought.

"And what about Sasuke Uchiha?" Koharu demanded. "Why leave him alive then?"

A more charitable person might have called the upward turn at the corners of Danzo's mouth a smile but Homura had seen snakes look more friendly. And he had seen Orochimaru and Manda, up close and personal.

"Because the Sharingan is still a valuable bloodline. Konoha is stronger with it. Our strength is widely regarded because of the Sharingan and the Byakugan," Danzo purred gesturing expansively with his hand. "That is why we needed to ensure that it would not be completely wiped out."

Now Koharu understood. A young and impressionable child, easily moldable and would undoubtedly be looking for an older, wiser mentor to instruct and train him now that he was effectively deprived of any sort of support from his family. And she had a good idea just who would be first in line for that task. "So," she said flatly, "you intend for Sasuke to be the progenitor of a new Uchiha Clan."

Danzo nodded smugly, "One that will be more loyal to Konoha."

_Loyal to _you_, you mean,_ Homura thought darkly.

There was a moment of silence before Koharu asked, "And what of Itachi?"

Danzo shrugged dismissively. "Oh I imagine he'll be … eliminated. Very shortly in fact."

Homura frowned. "What does that mean?" he demanded, dreading the answer.

Danzo grinned shark-like. "It means that Itachi will shortly be walking into an ambush by my ROOT. He'll make the perfect scapegoat for the whole Uchiha Massacre as well. I had the liberty of having a few … clues seeded here and there to make it appear that he was the one responsible for this whole terrible incident. Why we even have a witness who will claim that Itachi was responsible! The sole survivor of Itachi's bloody rampage! Naturally, Itachi's body will be discovered afterwards and they will decide that in a fit of remorse, Itachi to have committed suicide, leaving one loose end to be neatly tied up."

Koharu snorted and folded her arms across her chest. "That of course, depends heavily on the fact that your ROOT actually manage to ambush and kill Itachi in the first place," she acidly retorted before adding, "I saw that boy take his Chunin Exam and I don't think he'll go down all that easily…"

Danzo opened his mouth to reply when abruptly the doors to the room slammed open and a pair of ANBU entered followed by a grim Sarutobi. His eyes glanced around the room and hardened when he saw Homura and Koharu, but they swiftly focused on Danzo. Then his craggy face split apart in a malicious smile. "My, my, what are you three all doing here?" he asked mildly, causing Homura's stomach to do guilty flip-flops.

Danzo assumed a blank face. "Why … discussing the tragic events at the Uchiha Compound Hokage," he informed Sarutobi blandly. "It is greatly disturbing to hear of such a horrific crime taking place in the very heart of our own village, no less. We need to take action immediately. Clearly, we need to step up our internal security," he added smiling tightly at Sarutobi. Homura could almost hear the unsaid, _as I have so forcefully stated so many times, you incompetent monkey. _

"Hmm. You might have a point there, Danzo. Perhaps you should write up a proposal and turn it in to my office," the aged Hokage said diffidently. _So I can wad it up and use it as my personal toilet paper, you sadistic bastard._

Danzo beamed. "Why, I'd be delighted to Hokage," he said bowing his head politely. _You senile old fool._

Sarutobi chuckled, but the glint in his eyes were anything but amused. _Warmongering madman. _

Homura sighed. He really wanted more time to question Danzo which was naturally impossible now with Sarutobi present. His eyes flicked back and forth as the two old adversaries seemed to be mentally rolling up their sleeves and preparing for one of their infamous poisonously polite verbal duels. He sighed again and began massaging a throbbing temple. It would be easier if the two just broke down and grabbed a pair of kunais and tried hacking away at each other. At least it would have been quicker. If not less bloody. _This was not going to be fun…_

_

* * *

_

He watched horrorstricken as the blood flew once more when suddenly the dark nightmare suddenly flared white and Sasuke arched his back and let out a shriek. Frantically, he blinked his eyes as he stared into a strange whirling Sharingan. Sasuke recoiled, "Itachi!" he gasped out in horror. Desperately he tried to ward him off but the man leaned closer, coming out of the shadows and into the light, illuminating his face.

"No. Not Itachi, Sasuke," the older man said softly.

Sasuke panted, his heart racing as he stared into the man's face and came to the realization that it wasn't his brother.

He was barely conscious of his conversation with the stranger as he glanced furitively around the hospital room. _Was—was it all a dream? A nightmare? Yes, it had to be a nightmare! Itachi … Itachi would never do that! He wouldn't! He couldn't!_

It took some effort, but he managed to refocus on the stranger and asked, "Who are you?"

The older man smiled slightly, "I'm you."

That arrested his attention, "Huh?" he asked confused.

The older man grimaced, "It is … difficult to explain."

Sasuke glanced down and froze as he saw his hands. Someone had cleaned them but he could see blood still trapped beneath his fingernails. _No … _he silently whispered. He looked up, his eyes wide and realized that it had been no nightmare. It was much, much worse. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. "T-they're dead aren't they. Mother. Father."

The stranger's face closed up, and he simply nodded and in a gentle voice confirmed, "Yes. They are."

"I-itachi did it didn't he? He killed them!" Sasuke gasped out, his eyes wide and tearing. "Why?" he yelled. "Why did he do that?" he demanded.

"It is … difficult to explain," the stranger said again. "There are things … things you are unaware of Sasuke. Dark secrets. Terrible things. Lies. Betrayals. Deceit and deceptions."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke demanded.

The stranger hesitated and suddenly rubbed his forehead. "This was so stupid. I shouldn't have come here and woken you. And I used to call Naruto an idiot," he muttered shaking his head. "There are things I cannot tell you right now, Sasuke. Things you are not ready to hear yet. But when the time comes, I will tell you."

Something in Sasuke snapped, "Tell me now!"

"Wow. I really was an impatient hothead…" the stranger remarked studying Sasuke like a fascinating specimen.

"And what are you talking about? What did you mean—" Sasuke trailed off as he started swaying. "—w-what—" he slurred.

"Sleep Sasuke. Just sleep and while we're at it, maybe you should forget this entire conversation," the stranger said softly as Sasuke suddenly realized that the man's Sharingan Eyes were spinning hypnotically.

"B-ba-bastard—don't you—don't you—" Sasuke's eyes rolled back and he collapsed helplessly onto his pillow.

"Heh heh. That's right," the older man commented with a chuckle as he arranged Sasuke into a more comfortable position remembering how a certain blonde idiot used to insult him with that name. Frequently too.

With a sigh, he made a few hand seals, releasing the privacy seal that he had emplaced and then exited the room. He was halfway down the corridor before he suddenly remembered about the two ANBU. He retraced his steps and released the genjutsu from the two ANBU. Well … after he had made a few … little additions.

The ANBU guards were never sure how someone managed to sneak up and attach a note on their each of their backs. One proclaiming KICK ME, I DESERVE IT and BED WETTER on the other one.

To their everlasting shame, they never did find out about it until after their shift change replacements had appeared and they were in the midst of leaving. They winced, imaging that their superior was not going to be pleased when he found out about this. Not pleased at all.

* * *

**A/N:** OK, here's Chapter 2 already! Surprisingly, I found myself inspired to complete this chapter. One thing I never really understood about Itachi Uchiha was that he was one of the most baffling characters I had ever read. He seemed like a cold psychopath when first introduced yet he turned out to be a loving brother later on who couldn't bring himself to kill his only brother, yet was also supposedly responsible for the entire slaughter of his entire clan including his father and mother? Huh? I didn't get that explanation AT ALL. It was like Kishimoto had written himself into a hole and was trying to rewrite or ignore his own story.

This is my explanation, that it wasn't Itachi at all and that Danzo had a greater part to do with the massacre of the Uchiha Clan than just ordering Itachi to do it along with Homura and Koharu.


	3. Treason Never Prospers

_He impassively removed the Kusanagi blade from the stomach of the enemy ninja. The blonde ninja grunted as his legs buckled and he collapsed, clutching his wounded abdomen, blood trickling out of his mouth, his blue eyes wide in surprise and shock. _

_He stared down at the convulsing body of the enemy shinobi—_no, not an enemy, he wasn't an enemy, he was my friend—_the troublesome voice whispered in the back of his mind but he ignored it. He had long gotten used to it. _

_"SASUKE!" he heard a shriek of horror. He turned and smirked at the pale pink haired weakling. Her eyes were wide in shock and horror. _

_"Hello Sakura. Come to die with the Idiot?" he inquired as he gave Kusanagi a quick flick with his wrist, splattering the ground with the blood sticking to the blade._

Sasuke gasped as he jerked awake and struggled to retain control of his stomach contents and not vomit. He barely managed.

Panting, he wiped away the sweat beading on his brow. Too many bad memories. Memories that he desperately wanted to forget, he reached up to massage his neck. Where his Curse Seal had once resided.

_Orochimaru,_ he bared his teeth in memory of the Snake Sanin. Orochimaru was nearly at the top of the list of people to kill. But as that was just primarily a selfish desire on his part, he had reluctantly placed Danzo, the Akatsuki, and Madara Uchiha as slightly higher priority on his little list.

He further decided not to use Battle Meditation again. It was an ancient shinobi exercise to replenish one's energies—the equivalent of both physical and mental rest akin to a period of six hours of deep sleep in about an hour—enabling ninjas to effectively operate for days. It was one of those tricks that enabled ninjas to ultimately prove victorious over samurai for extended campaigns.

Unfortunately, there were … side effects.

Battle Meditation often resulted in highly realistic hallucinatory experiences like incredibly realistic and detailed dreams of their more traumatic memories. And unlike most dreams, they did not forget them. They re-experienced them. Over and over and over again.

In gloriously graphic detail. Over and over and over again.

He shuddered as he quickly made a last minute check of his weapons. He could not afford to allow himself to be distracted. Not now. He had work to do.

He vanished in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

**Sasuke's Redemption**

**Chapter Three:** _Treason Never Prospers_

* * *

In some small way, Sarutobi had to admit very, very privately that he actually enjoyed his verbal repartees with Danzo. It was kind of an intellectual game of shoji. Move and countermove. Of course, that amusement was superseded by the fact that he often felt the overwhelming temptation to cave the bastard's skull in with a large blunt instrument. Repeatedly.

Danzo sneered, "Your precious pet Uchiha was clearly behind this horrible incident…"

"I make it a point to never assume anything Danzo, otherwise it tends to make an **_ass_** out of **_you _**and **_me_**."

Danzo snorted at the lame pun. "Joke all you want Sarutobi, but obviously you didn't take our warnings seriously enough! Itachi apparently felt threatened enough to take action!"

Sarutobi inclined his head, "And I am to believe that one ANBU Captain, no matter how skilled—was able to execute 15 Jounins, 41 Chunins, and 8 Genins in addition to approximately 74 civilians; a sizeable percentage of which consisted of retired ninjas. And without any of them being able to raise an alarm? Without attracting notice from the rest of the Village? It sounds more like … a group of people," and his eyes hardened as they flicked to the other two members of the trio, "decided to take matters into their own hands and seriously overstepped their authority."

Sarutobi saw Homura flinch slightly and his upset stomach congealed into ice. "If that is the case," Sarutobi's voice took on a growl and his killing intent flared, "then the word for that is **_treason,_**" he hissed the last word. His eyes were cold as he glared at them as his killing intent ramped higher and higher, "And the penalty for that has not changed even since the Founding of this Village."

Both Homura and Koharu paled slightly. There were no further words needed to be said. They knew. As well did everyone else that there was one penalty for traitors.

Death.

And no bond of friendship would save them from Sarutobi's wrath if he found out they were indeed tied to the Uchiha Massacre. They would be just traitors and summarily executed.

About the best they could hope for was that Sarutobi would make it mercifully quick. Which was likely as Sarutobi did not go for humiliating people with drawn out and extended torture.

Many of the other Hidden Villages favored it as a deterrent; including having it done as publicly as possible. Most forced their ninja ranks to be present, a few strenuously encouraged the traitor's family relations—even their distant kin to attend to ensure that they didn't entertain similar thoughts.

Iwagakure actually demanded that the traitor's relatives assist in the torture session and were under strict orders that if they even _thought_ of trying to show some mercy and helping finish off the traitor as quickly as possible—they would simply replace their traitorous relative as the torture subject.

This made those who did turn traitor; favor suicide or being killed in action rather than being captured. Not that it stopped their bodies from being grossly mutilated afterwards. Often, they would be strung up and left to rot in the center of the Village itself. Another fun little deterrent against turning traitor.

Homura had heard of another Hidden Village which would ritually disfigure and dismember a traitor's corpse and later return the pieces to their family, one piece at a time and over several months. Just as a little object lesson.

Homura personally thought that one was going too far and was just pointless cruelty. Showing compassion made you appear weak, but deliberate brutality and savagery didn't exactly win you lots of support and friends either.

Danzo appeared unaffected by Sarutobi's killing intent. In a bored tone of voice, he remarked, "An intriguing theory Hokage. But that's all it is. **A theory.** Do you have any evidence to back that up?"

Sarutobi inwardly grimaced at that innocuous inquiry. Because Danzo damn well knew that he didn't.

Danzo smirked as he saw Sarutobi groping for a counter argument and failing. _Check and mate you old fool,_ he sneered. He felt the political power shifting itself, aligning with him. _It was time,_ he decided gleefully, _my time at last. The Council will have no choice but to force him to resign and…_

Abruptly, there was a sound of running feet from the corridor outside and an ANBU burst into the room. "It's Sasuke Uchiha! He's come out of his coma!"

* * *

Itachi Uchiha finished retying the field dressings on his injuries. Although the wounds were healing, he would need to see a Medic Nin to make sure that he did not acquire any infections. He carefully repacked his medic field kit and seemingly unconcerned, he uncapped his canteen and sipped a mouthful of water.

He was being observed. He could feel it. The unknown observer was very good and very careful. But among his various abilities and skills, Itachi was also a minor Sensor. It was an ability that he had honed through extensive practice and training. And it was an ability that he had never demonstrated or revealed—not even to Danzo or the Hokage.

Years ago when he was still a Chunin, Itachi had faced a highly skilled Kiri Jonin Chozo Matsu—whose most famous apprentice was Momochi Zabuza. Matsu used his mastery of water-based jutsu to create a blinding mist and tried to kill Itachi. In the end, through clever bit of Substitution and Shadow Clones, Itachi managed to fatally wound Matsu—although he himself had been badly wounded, thankfully Matsu had been overconfident at the fact that Itachi possessed only a Chunin rank.

The battle however showed a distinct flaw in his fighting style that Itachi worked hard to overcome. He spent considerable time and effort to develop a subtle and passive sensory awareness of his surroundings. It wasn't foolproof, but Itachi was extraordinarily aware and possessed an uncanny situational degree of any person, objects, or chakra being used in approximately 18 feet of himself at all times. It proved extraordinarily useful in combat and enabled him to cover his "blind spot".

But Itachi could also "push" this bubble outward to about 200 feet—when he seemed to be meditating or was simply sitting down, apparently doing nothing more innocuous than drinking water from his canteen and checking to see if his tail was still there.

Itachi was very curious just as to who this spy was. This was the same spy who had him under surveillance—irregularly but for almost four years now. At first, he assumed it was a ROOT agent, but he now believed otherwise. He also did not believe it to be an agent of the Hokage nor the Uchiha Clan itself due to the length of time predated the current potential coupe d'état.

The length of time precluded anything but a long range operation which strongly suggested the support of either a Hidden Village or a Major Ninja Clan. While he supposed that one of the other Hidden Villages could have assigned someone as a permanent watcher—that presupposed a tremendous drain of resources both financial and time as well.

He could see such a possibility if he was a Clan Head or the Hokage, but technically speaking, Itachi was simply the Heir to the Current Clan Head—and unless something unforeseen occurred to his father, probably was at least a decade or more away from assuming the responsibilities; even then there was a strong probability that the Clan Elders would simply nominate someone else to the position due to his youth and current active ninja career. It would be simply too dangerous if he was captured by an enemy Hidden Village to have the Clan Head as a potential hostage.

Itachi took another swallow of water and then recapped his canteen and got to his feet.

For now, he was just going to have to wait and see just what his personal watcher was up to. He could already see the forests of Konoha. _Almost home,_ he decided as he adjusted his rig slightly and took off at a leisurely pace.

* * *

_Almost. It was almost time,_ the thing once known as Madara Uchiha thought eagerly as he peered from behind a large tree trunk, his sole Sharingan Eye narrowed as he watched his descendent moving towards the hated Konoha.

Soon, very soon—his revenge would begin on that damn Village and he would see the legacy of the Senju wiped out forever.

Already the traitorous and useless get of his former Clan were wiped out. The first stage of his plan was already complete. Then, Konoha would fall and then Suna, Iwa, Kiri, and Kumo would follow as well with their Demon Beasts. And then the Elemental Countries would be his. And then … everything else would follow.

He would be revered. He would be honored. Remembered.

And he would be Immortal and a God forever.

* * *

If the Hokage was the Great Tree that protected the Village, then the ROOT quietly supported it hidden and in secret—akin to their very namesake by being buried deep beneath the Earth itself. At least according to Danzo.

In truth, ROOT served not the Hokage but Danzo himself. Then again, in Danzo's mind—he was the better, fitter, and more appropriate Hokage than Hiruzen Sarutobi or the late Minato Namikaze.

Anyone else would argue if his mindset was treason or sheer delusion.

ROOT of course did not see it that way. They were specifically and fanatically trained not to see it that way at all. In that, everyone all agreed that they were deluded traitors.

And for all of Danzo's claims that his ROOT agents were superior ninjas—the fact was that with rare exceptions, they were little better than cannon fodder.

Their greatest strength was operating as a team and using their superior numbers to overwhelm their opponents. In many ways, ROOT was a return to the old ways of the ninja—favoring stealth, misdirection, and dirty tricks to overcome their opponents. That was because the majority of them simply did not possess any special Bloodlines nor the specific Clan Jutsus and had to rely on the old shinobi ways that had been supplanted by flashy jutsu and techniques.

Because of that, ROOT assault teams were deliberately overmanned by the standards of most Ninja Villages, possessing 8 individual ninjas whereas the standard squad consisted of a mere 3 because ROOT could normally not hope to equal or surpass a squad with similar numbers.

That was also why those few ROOT agents who did possess a unique Bloodline or Clan Jutsu tended to be much more deadly and talented with such additional skills and training. The greatest example of that deadly training was in fact, their target—Itachi Uchiha.

It was due to his prowess that Danzo had assigned no less than **_four_** assault teams—32 ROOT ninjas in all—to kill him. And the only reason why he hadn't chosen more was that it was all he could not remove any more critical assets without major disruption at this time—and he knew that Itachi would be returning exhausted—if not injured from an extended S-Class Mission that Danzo had secretly downgraded to appear merely A-Class. Plus, Itachi was walking unknowingly into a kill zone on what he believed to be friendly territory and thus would be surprised by the ambush, increasing the odds against him.

Even then, Danzo had a feeling that at least half of the assault force would be lost. Itachi was just simply that good and that dangerous that he would take down at least that many of his fanatical ROOT agents with him. Given his druthers, Danzo would have greatly preferred to use an S-Class Army Killing Jutsu tasked to remotely detonate in Itachi's face. Simple, clean, no muss, no fuss.

Unfortunately Danzo needed Itachi's corpse—relatively intact—for his story about the Uchiha Massacre to work. And while medical jutsu could cosmetically repair a corpse fairly well, not even Tsunade could return a pile of ash into a recognizable body. And it would be rather hard to claim that said pile of ash to have been responsible for the murder of entire Clan of Ninjas after all.

So it was that 32 ROOT agents were quietly making their way through the gigantic forests of Konoha, leaping from branch to branch nearly silently towards their objective of Itachi Uchiha.

Unseen to the rest of the ROOT assault team, the last trailing ninja who was operating as their rear cover, was surprised when a pair of hands emerged from the shadow of a branch and seized him in a hold that cut off his cry of shock and handily prevented him to raising an alarm. There was a quick jerk and his neck was brutally and swiftly snapped.

Sasuke Uchiha made a quick survey to ensure that his little assassination had gone unnoticed. He then yanked off the blank and featureless ANBU ceramic mask that the now deceased ROOT agent had been wearing and donned it for himself. Almost absently, he kicked off the body off the branch and leaped after it, hurtling towards the ground. He landed and swiveled in place, effortlessly catching the falling body and laid it on the soil. Sasuke flashed through a sequence of handsigns and touched the ground which promptly swallowed up the body, leaving behind a barely disturbed patch of earth. Just like in life, ROOT returned to the earth hidden and secret even in death.

Smirking behind the faceless ceramic mask, he hurried to catch up to his new "team". He hoped that they enjoyed his inclusion to this little ambush as he was going to.

But he rather suspected not.

_Too fucking bad,_ he reflected grimly.

31 ROOT agents and 1 Time Displaced Ex-Konoha Ninja continued to quietly make their way through the gigantic forests of Konoha towards their objective.

Absently, Sasuke thought it was rather ironic that he was operating as a ROOT member. He was in fact following ROOT sacred doctrine; quietly supporting and protecting Konoha hidden in the shadows and in secret. The fact that he was protecting it from the rest of ROOT was something that they would probably **not** appreciate.

And if he had to do that by saving the life of his beloved older brother and mucking with Danzo's carefully laid schemes—well, he would just have to live with that too.

* * *

**A/N:** When I first plotted this story out, this was waaay before Obito was revealed as masquerading as Madara Uchiha so I'm afraid that my version really is a Madara who has extended his life and has been plotting the destruction of Konoha for decades.

The Battle Meditation is an original jutsu idea that I came up with that enables ninjas as a "power nap" to refresh themselves.


End file.
